Partner Content
Authored by Adrian Towsey, Area Vice President, Salesforce leading the Emerging, Small & Medium Business segments across Australia & New Zealand.
A changing world is shaking up customer expectations, putting pressure on businesses to step up. Even with rising costs, customers are seeking engagement that goes beyond transactions and are on the hunt for personalised experiences that show brands know them.
Salesforce’s latest State of Connected Customer report, a global survey of over 15,000 consumers on their perspective on trust and AI, found that 50% of Australian consumers say a poor customer service experience will stop them from making a repeat purchase.
But it’s on issues of trust that Australian shoppers are really dissatisfied; three-quarters (75%) of those surveyed say they trust companies less than they did a year ago, and a further 69% believe that advances in AI make trust even more important.
While Australian consumers are suspicious and curious ​​about the future of AI in their shopping, there’s an opportunity for savvy local business leaders to build new trust with their customers by delivering exceptional customer service, and showing how AI is helping them to do so.
Brands can’t afford to get AI wrong, especially as more than $200 billion in global online sales will be influenced by AI this holiday season. The good news is there’s already great examples of local businesses bringing AI into their workflow and succeeding with their customers: Urban Rest are using connected processes, AI, and data to make every customer touchpoint seamless, pay.com.au are turning to AI to drive greater personalisation with their customers, and Rapid Response Revival are using AI to respond swiftly and effectively to website enquiries.
There are also new opportunities for companies to win back consumers, especially with the use of AI agents on the rise. If companies can focus on communicating transparently how AI is used, and making clear that their employees — not technology — are in the driver’s seat, they stand to win over more consumers.
The data supports this approach: 79% of Australian consumers said they’d want to know if they’re talking with an AI agent, while 39% would work with an AI agent instead of a person to avoid repeating themselves. For SMBs, this provides a unique opportunity; they can take advantage of the scale that agents provide, especially when it comes to responding to customer service queries. In the process, they can support their customer-facing teams to better navigate peak trading periods like Christmas, delivering a customer experience equivalent to those at far larger businesses.
With customer service a key differentiator, brands reading these results should be prompted to prioritise consistency, efficiency, and a human touch. But heading into 2025, Australian businesses should also increasingly consider how different age groups prefer to engage with AI.
Gen Zers and millennials are more willing than older generations to deploy AI agents to improve their customer experience by creating more personalised, useful content. Younger generations expect brands to know exactly what they want, and be able to respond quickly to their needs and desires. By implementing AI agents, local businesses can deliver on these expectations, utilising their own data to provide quick, targeted responses to customer queries.
AI agents also empower the creation of engaged experiences guided by their customer–facing teams, enabling them to iterate and respond quickly to purchasing trends and changing consumer expectations, deploying agents rapidly in response.
The significance of delivering a cohesive and trusted customer experience cannot be overstated. While 2025 is shaping up as the year of the AI agent, it’s important that such tools are implemented thoughtfully.
Australia’s SMEs are in a unique position to move quickly and have a positive impact on their customer relationships, and as noted last month, their urgency stands to benefit both business and customer alike.
Salesforce, the global leader in customer relationship management (CRM), empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way.
